In Kelly’s Words – We’re Back in VT!

When I used to tell people that I lived in Maine, or before that I lived in Boston, people were often surprised I didn’t live in Vermont. While the KBF has always been based in Vermont, I haven’t actually lived there since the summer after college. I lived in Connecticut for 1 year working at ESPN, then moved to Boston for nursing school where I lived for 5 years. Early in 2014 I took my first permanent position as a pediatric nurse practitioner in Maine. Zeke grew up in Maine and always wanted to go back. When we decided we wanted to leave Boston, we had a constant debate (battle?) about where to live, Maine versus Vermont. (Many people would say these states are so similar, you can’t go wrong. I agree, but believe me, we can find differences!) When we had Dylan (and even when we were thinking about starting a family), we decided we wanted to be close to my family who were all in Vermont. Plus, Zeke had left his job in Maine at the end of 2014 to run the KBF, which he has been doing remotely.

I have never lived here in Vermont as an adult. Sure I have always visited frequently, but it is different thinking about settling in and finding a social network. When I think about Vermont, I think about the lake in the summer and skiing in the winter. Now I’m excited to make this playground my adult home. And most of all, I’m excited to be closer to my family – my sister, her husband and their 2 kids live in South Burlington, and my parents still live in Charlotte.

I’m also excited to be back in Vermont to do more work with the KBF. While I’m obviously always involved regardless of where I am, there are a lot more things I’ll be able to do now that I’m in the KBF’s home community (like the Ride With Kelly on Aug. 17, who’s with me?!). Between the local media air time I received after my injury, the success of the Kelly Brush Ride, and my parents’ incessant bragging, I am also somewhat well known here. In Maine I could be pretty anonymous (especially with my married name “Kelly Davisson”), but that will be different here. It’s fun and kind of terrifying!

I will still be working as a nurse practitioner in Vermont. I took a job at Hagan, Rinehart, Connolly Pediatricians in Burlington. Joe Hagan was my pediatrician and I’m really excited to join their team – it’s a great group of people! In Maine I worked as a pediatric NP as well so this will be very similar to what I was doing there. I’ll miss my former colleagues in Maine, but looking forward to working in Burlington!

Dylan Update:
As always, feel free to stop reading if you aren’t interested, I get it! The last I posted we had just started hypoallergenic formula because we were wondering if she had an allergy to something I was eating. Well that didn’t work at all, which is both nice (because that means she doesn’t have an allergy) and frustrating (because we didn’t find an answer). We have since determined that she has reflux (which we already knew), which can make her fussy especially around feeds, and likely has just your normal baby colic. Her fussiness is still a bit of a mystery and we’re still trying to figure out the best way to help her. The good news is that she has long stretches (at times) where she is awake, happy, and engaged. It is really fun to be with her during these times and watch her take the world in. Her smiles are great as well! Her neck muscles are getting stronger so she can hold her head up more on her own and she’s starting to try to roll over (though hasn’t actually rolled yet). Though her crying can be frustrating at time, Zeke and I love to watch her change and grow!